beyond design

Despite having all the skills, April Greiman doesn’t like to be called a graphic designer. She conceives of herself as an artist, teacher, thinker and desert explorer (why limit yourself to one designation?). More importantly, why limit others? In the early 1980s, Greiman became head of the graphic design department at the California Institute of the Arts, and one of her first suggestions was to change the department name to “visual communications.” The point of the gesture became obvious only later, as the world came to realize that technology had redefined the profession once and for all. 

bit-mapped

 

Greiman’s first experiments with digital were done using CalArts’ analog computers and video equipment. Despite their limitations, Greiman was intrigued. Soon she attended Alan Kay’s TED talk and, story has it, went from the lecture directly to Macy’s department store and bought her first Macintosh (quite an expensive purchase at the time). Back then, graphic designers laughed at the idea of creating work with a machine rather than their hands. The design community was unanimously opposed to the notion. Greiman decided that she had to convince her colleagues of the tremendous potential of the new medium.

i don’t hire graphic designers. the idea of many designers working in virtual isolation is no longer relevant. i hire collaborators who are specialists in their own fields: a webmaster, a researcher, a production artist—depending on the project.
—april greiman

April Greiman’s apartment
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